Cheers , I thought it was a pretty nice sunset, the day had been a scorcher so it was nice to enjoy some cool breezes in the cockpit while we ate dinner. Woke up the next morning and choofed over to the beach in the tender and had a really nice swim at high tide before the 4wd's and the sun came up over the hill, then back to the boat for brekky. I gotta quit work so this can be my life.

Headed out of Pittwater early this afternoon having carried my new asymmetric all the way up in a lightish (mostly) Westerly thinking there were rather more boats around than usual for a Friday only to run into the start traffic of the Pittwater to Coffs race complete with a few maxis.

Didn't want to jibe my assy which was on port so when Comanchee went on starboard and came close I chickened out thinking single handed it could be slow getting the assy down. They and many other competitors only had mains up at this point and possibly had motors on but I didn't want to risk it. There were quite a lot of competitors and spectators and I couldn't quite figure out where the line was so I dropped the assy got the hell out of there.

Kind of buggered up my sail as was going to go a fair way Northeast with kite set nicely and doing 6.5-7 knots but that's the way they were going and it wasn't brisk enough under my 108% headsail to be fun.

Oh well got to see a few maxis close up (bit too close) from the water so had to be content with that and called it a day.

Picked a good day to go North on my friends 40-ft cat yesterday. Left Lake Macquarie via the 6 a.m. bridge in a good SSW breeze which by 9 a.m. was consistent 36 knots gusting to over 40. Surfing regularly at 16 and 17 knots and highest I saw whilst helming was 18.

Water 23.5 to 25 degrees all day mostly 24 so assuming we were mostly in the adverse current.

Boats will be boats and despite the boat being maintained in pretty good condition and one year of replacements and improvements costing more than my own boat is worth the freezer suddenly decided not to work, the inverter won't run the microwave and the autohelm installed last year wont work and constantly turns to port. Plan to address these issues in Brisbane as everything is shut till Tuesday.

Really hard work hand steering from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. at Port Macquarie split between two of us. High winds and pretty big following sea saw the helm spun to back and forth.almost full lock and sometimes full lock all day. Naturally the best efforts of capturing the size of the set produced practically nothing. Picture off seal rocks attached along with poor screenshots from a show that some dolphins put on about 4 pm.

BeamReach said..

Wow..What an opportunity sailing up the coast with those speeds and conditions.
Pity about the breakdowns, but as you said, that's boating.
The photo's and Dolphins are spectacular!!
Enjoy the rest of the trip and thanks for sharing..
Cheers

Thanks mate. Fair bit slower today so only Coffs tonight. Got a late start after a late one yesterday. It's not really a fast cat plus it's overloaded with dive compressor, tanks, 30 HP rib... Mostly sevens and eights today but saw 12.5 once while surfing. Breakers getting out of Port M were big big but too hectic to get good pics.

Upside is that freezer is fixed and best of all so is autopilot. Now one stop solenoid doesn't work so have to reach into engine bay to stop that motor.. Looking forward to seeing Lady Musgrave before I fly home to my family and another mate joins him for a while till my wife, son and I join again for July school hols at Whitsundays.

BeamReach said..

Nice to get the conditions to put the Asy up.
That's good you were able to sort out 2 of the issues.
The Whitsundays would be very nice in July..
What are big Cats like at anchor? And do the hulls dig in, whilst under sail? Although the extra weight would not help? You need a lot of free time to sail up the coast and make the most of it..I guess your mate leaves the boat at Airlie and fly home, at some stage
You would still need to Work, to finance.the ongoing costs, of a boat like his.
Cheers..

It's at anchor where this cat and probably all cats shine. There is a small amount of swell making it into Coffs tonight and there is a beautiful approximately 55 foot old school monohull anchored next to us that looks similar to a Cape Baron Goose only larger and I'm surprised at how much it is rolling in such a light swell. We are rock steady.

I'm not sure what you mean by do the hulls dig in. This cat has an enormous amount of freeboard for a 40 footer and in my opinion could do with a taller mast. It doesn't pound much to windward (of you could call it that) in bad seas because of a high bridge deck but is a total slug under 15 knots and the owner often motor sails which I hate. It doesn't go to windward well at all and doesn't have centreboards. The high freeboard also means lots of windage.There isn't much impression of speed because of the freeboard unless you are looking off the transom. It feels very safe however and handled very rough conditions plus the quite scary waves over the Port Macquarie bar extreemly
well.

He has taken nine months off and is going to the top of the reef then back down the outside and returning in December. You need to be self employed to do this. He loves diving. Everything is so much bigger than a mono and even the rigs have to be stronger because they can't spill excess wind by heeling. I would estimate his maintainence costs at twice mine for a boat that's only two feet longer. I don't have fancy systems like a watermaker or two motors each twice the size of mine.
Basically it's a very serious sacrifice of sailing pleasure in exchange for a phenominal exponential increase in comfort and space. The exception to comfort though is that for my stomach the sharp jerky motion of a cat is more uncomfortable at sea than the more predictable motion of a mono but I think owners eventually get used to it.

For my money I think I could be happy with a performance cat with centreboards like a Catana 471 or an Outremer but they are very expensive and apparently you still have to be careful not to put much extra weight in them if you want then to sail nicely.

You have to go bigger for a performance cat to get the same room as this cat as they have narrower hulls and smaller rounded coach house blisters. Most 40ft or under performance cats don't have much bridge deck clearance so pound badly to windward and the space isn't that impressive.

Exciting crossing of Wide Bay Bar this morning just after sunrise after idyllic but windy day completely surrounded by sand at Double Island lagoon accessible only to catamarans.

Bar was pretty angry but southerly winds get even worse as the week progresses so this morning was it. Just in case it wasn't hairy enough one motor died halfway into it and wouldn't restart. Slewed completely sideways a number of times.

The only other boat around being a 40+ ft powercat we saw coming out smashed all its front windows in just after we crossed it according to reports from people still in Double Island Lagoon.

As usual it is impossible to capture the size of the waves in pictures especially in light of the high vantage point on the cat.

BeamReach said..
Wow... That looks angry and hairy.!!!

Great Pics!

That will give you experience for when you do your World Solo circumnavigation !!

I've recently watched a video of a sailor that sails the North Atlantic, up near Norway.. Some angry Ocean up there!!
Cheers

Yeah I wouldn't have the balls to cross when my mate took us across this morning. I would wait 7 days if necessary.

I suspect not only that my boat may have burried the bow at least a couple of times but also that when it slewed sideways with my keel in much deeper slower moving water I may have had the mast close to the water.NO THANKS! The ridiculous high bows on this boat have their benefits.

julesmoto said..
Exciting crossing of Wide Bay Bar this morning just after sunrise after idyllic but windy day completely surrounded by sand at Double Island lagoon accessible only to catamarans.

Bar was pretty angry but southerly winds get even worse as the week progresses so this morning was it. Just in case it wasn't hairy enough one motor died halfway into it and wouldn't restart. Slewed completely sideways a number of times.

The only other boat around being a 40+ ft powercat we saw coming out smashed all its front windows in just after we crossed it according to reports from people still in Double Island Lagoon.

As usual it is impossible to capture the size of the waves in pictures especially in light of the high vantage point on the cat.

Wow...that crossing looks gnarly...especially on one motor!

The DI Lagoon shots almost make me miss living in QLD....almost

Getting broached by breakers multiple times sounds pretty full on, I am wrong in thinking its sounds like you narrowly averted a disaster.

Bit of a different one. The WA Department of Transport runs a program for schools called Sea Trek, alternating between Shark Bay and Cockburn Sound. Uses dinghies moulded off a Sea Scout seaboat which can be fitted with sails, oars, motors or any combination of the three. Spent five days with a group in Shark Bay with variable weather and lots of sand in the food but when it was good, it was really, really good.

Only mucked around a couple of miles off Barranjoey single handed because got a late start but one of those magic days not too hot not to cold and ample breeze to see 7.5 knots in flat water before I even got out.
Took the opportunity to practice and analyse heaving to whilst outside as my headsail started losing its supposedly sewn in (behind the luff) rope which assists even furling.
Put the second reef in for the beat back up Pittwater whilst still on a reach which was also good practice although probably really only needed one.
Changed to the Dimension Polyant carbon headsail which will be my std fare from now on. It's cut a little higher so doesn't need skirting and is also flatter.

All in all quite a satisfying day despite 19 months since slip and long six month wait till slip next month.

BeamReach said..

Looks like a nice day for a sail and to get cobwebs off the boat., with a stiff breeze coming back..

You wouldn't have gone sailing off our Adelaide coastline today,. Chilly Gale force winds and a cold 15 degree day,.The coldest October day since 1997!

How did you change your headsail, so easily, single handed?

Thanks for sharing..

Cheers

Wow nasty temp. Maybe it will come our way :(.

I didn't change the headsail on the fly. I did it back on the mooring.

Damn luff furling thickening rope was nearly a meter out when I noticed it over the side. Should have been properly sewn in. A foam one probably wouldn't have come out. Damn sailmaker omitted it completely despite quoting it and discussing rope or foam at the beginning and we actually discussed having two or three of decreasing diameter and length. Had to send it back to the North Coast to get him to install it and now it has been done half arsed even though he only installed one.

Had to go up on the wet bouncy foredeck to figure out what it was and try and stop it coming out further. Heaven knows how I get it back in.

Same sail I had to return to get it cut higher in the clew to minimise skirting despite also discussing this before quote and being assured that he always makes them so to avoid waves getting in them offshore. He still didn't do it enough but now panels are all at wrong angle. Sail also curled at leech and carried draft aft of midgirth. Had to get Norths to add leech battens but they commented that sail was cut all wrong for warp and weft of material. Grrr thought I had calmed down about it but a 6500 dollar rip off. Should have got money back. The really old sail it replaced is way better but just had shot UV strip.

Went out with my new headsail up yesterday and noticed that the sewn in rope behind the luff on that sail doesn't seem to be restrained at the lower end either. I'll keep an eye on it but hopefully it is restrained further up.

Ramona said..
That's OK. They are all like that sir! The padding is just that and if it was attached it would effect the luff tension.

Surely it should be attached by a couple of stitches at the top at least as otherwise it will just drop out like my other one did

Jolene said..
The luff rope on my headsail is contained in a pouch that sewn to the sail on one side of the pouch only,, so it's best described like a flap sewn along the luff with a piece of rope inside of it.

Thank you. I think the operative word is "contained". There was nothing to stop mine falling out. It looks as though yours might be sewn along the bottom to prevent that happening.